“That woman loves you, Ace,” he insists.
“She’s stubborn,” I tell him.
“Is she really?” Declan says. “I think she’s just protecting herself and Luna. It’s not the first time you’ve taken off when you had a problem. What woman wants to be with someone like that?”
He gets my undivided interest. “What do you mean?”
“You slept with her and left her the first time you met. When you came back you’ve done it again, and more than once,” Declan says.
“Yes, but I explained why. I need time alone to work through my problems.”
“You really don’t get it?” Declan says. “Okay, pretend you’re Lexi. Every time you and your boyfriend have a disagreement, he leaves and doesn’t say where he’s going or what time or even day he’ll be back.”
I have to admit that it doesn’t sound very good.
“You live with this fear that one day he won’t just go for a night or two, he’ll go forever,” Declan says, his voice ominous.
“That’s ridiculous. I wouldn’t leave Lexi and Luna. I’d have to be insane to do something like that,” I say.
“She doesn’t know that. All she knows is that you’ve done it before, and you can do it again.”
All the air leaves my lungs as understanding dawns. I’m an idiot. And there’s something else. Something that Declan doesn’t know. Lexi’s background. She grew up being disappointed over and over again by her mother’s promises to quit drinking. She knows that people make promises that they don’t keep. I did the same thing to her. I promised to never go off without telling her and I went ahead and did it. It didn’t seem like a big deal to me but to Lexi, it designates a life of worry and broken promises.
And like a curtain that has been opened, I understand why she had to leave. It’s not because she didn’t love me or even because I hadn’t trusted her. She left to protect our daughter. I’m proud that she’s the mother of our daughter. Luna will grow up to be just like her mother.
A woman willing to make difficult decisions to protect her own.
“Are you just going to sit there with a stupid smile on your face or are you going to go and get Lexi and Luna back?”
I’d forgotten about Declan. I stand up. “I’m going to go and get them.”
“Don’t take no for an answer,” Declan says.
I clap his shoulder. “Thanks.”
He waves me away.
***
Lexi is busy with a customer when I enter the cocktail bar. The moment she sees me sliding onto a barstool she goes absolutely still like she’s seen a ghost. I smile at her, as a regular customer would.
She doesn’t come to me immediately. She serves a customer and then when she has no choice she comes. This time there are no games. She goes straight to the point.
“What are you doing here, Ace?” she snaps.
I’m too busy soaking her in to respond. Absorbing every part of her beautiful face. Remembering how it feels like to kiss her. To have her soft, warm body under mine. Her moans as she begs me not to stop. Hearing her whisper that she loves me as if she’s afraid that if she says it loudly, a spell will be broken.
As I look at her, her sensuous mouth curled with impatience, I know that somehow, I have to convince her to give us a chance. What we have is too special to just let it slip between our fingers.
Lexi’s colleague sidles up to her and whispers into her ear. Lexi nods. “Thanks,” she says to her and then gestures the exit. “Let’s go.”
I follow her out of the bar. I follow her as she marches to the back parking area. She goes to her car, leans on it, and crosses her arms across her chest.
“Start talking.”
“You’re so beautiful,” I tell her.
Her features soften.
“I’m sorry I looked at your private documents—”
“I don’t care about that!” she snaps.
“I’m sorry that I never gave you a chance to explain things,” I continue.
I look for a sign of encouragement. There’s none. I have faced enemy fire, been blown up by a bomb but I’ve never been as terrified as I am now.
“I shouldn’t have left without telling you.”
She nods. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
“I made you worry all night and I promise I’ll never do that again. If you like, I can even put a tracker on me.”
She laughs. My tension eases.
She grows solemn. “I can’t live like that, Ace, no matter how much I love you.”
My heart skips a beat. “You never have to, Lexi. I’m done with running. I’ll run to you, not away from you.”
Her lower lip trembles. I step to her and slowly slide my hands around her waist. “I love you. I can’t live without you and Luna. Please come back home.”